''I won't keep quiet any longer'' - Tanushree Dutta

By Subhash K. Jha, March 15, 2008 - 11:14 IST

Tanushree Dutta who has been in the news for her ugly spat with director Shona Urvashi during the shooting of Saas Bahu Sensex in Pune, is in no mood to forgive…or forget. "I've taken enough rubbish from them; all because of my producers, Warner Brothers are really cool. But Shona Urvashi has been a nightmare. I wouldn't even want to go there again. But she has been calling up the media telling them I'm on drugs and that I'm another Parveen Babi…Another Parveen? Me on drugs? This is my 13th film. Please check with my other directors-producers, if I have ever been erratic in my behavior. I think these people need to check their own mental balance."

Getting even more candid Tanushree goes back to the beginning of her stint in Pune. "I signed on this film without knowing what I was in for. At first things seemed okay. Shona was the director, her sister Masume is also in the cast (though it's another matter that there seems to be some kind of a stress between the sisters). I've the main role. Their mother is the producer and father looks after production. So it was all a family affair. I was the outsider. I kept my distance. Maybe they didn't like the fact that I didn't party with them after work. But if I've an early morning shoot I'd rather sleep and be fresh." Whatever the reason for their rancor, all hell broke loose on February 14. "Shona decided to harass me pointedly and continuously on that day. She'd pick on me for no reason. At first, I laughed it off, thinking they were making a bakra out of me. But then I realized they were serious. I was made to say the same line for hours on-end. I wasn't allowed to go back to my van between shots. For fifteen hours non-stop they made me shoot, taunting, jeering, and openly harassing me. The lights and AC were switched off in my van. It was like a nightmare. And at the end of it there was promise of more. They couldn't wait to have me back on the sets the next morning for a dose of the same treatment."

Tabushree left Pune and refused to go back until the producers accompanied her. "I reluctantly went back and shot on 19th and 20th. But it was bad. The producers saw how bad it was and blasted the team, wondering how an actor was supposed to work under such stressful circumstances. Then Shona insisted she needed me for 10-12 days. The producers decided 4 days were enough. I went on the sets at the given time tried to do my work and left."

Now there're just four days of work left, and Tanushree wonders how she'd be able to go through it. "It's a fantastic script. But the worst experience of my career. Now I wonder if they were doing all this just for publicity. Shona Urvashi has directed one film before. Maybe she needed to get noticed. But is this the way to go about it?"